{"id":890,"date":"2024-04-18T14:16:05","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T20:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/MElab\/?p=890"},"modified":"2024-04-18T14:16:05","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T20:16:05","slug":"research-exploration-opportunity-program-spring-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/MElab\/research-exploration-opportunity-program-spring-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Exploration Opportunity Program Spring 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The ME Lab hosted a high school student during Spring break via the UAlberta STEM Fellowship<\/a>. Below is the student’s reflection about their experience in the lab:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This spring break I had the incredible opportunity of working at the ME Lab and learning more about research into autobiographical memories, thanks to Dr. St Jacques and her colleagues! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I loved learning about how to utilize different pieces of software to visualize different brain regions and the overlap. The ME Lab taught me how to use Mango, a tool for behavioral analysis of brain regions, and I was able to visualize brain activity in 3D through creation of videos! Besides Mango, I learnt about Vuze and how the software can create realistic 3D videos that can allow researchers to assess vividness in memories or research into the differences of own-eyes perspectives vs. observer perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I had so much fun learning about the dynamic superiority effect, which is the study of how dynamic memories are more vivid then static memory. I went through lots of VR Unity videos and classified their semantics, object movement, and each video’s emotional response. The image above was a positive scene with a birthday cake and the candles were animated, which helps allow for a person to vividly recall the imagery in a memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My time at the ME Lab exposed me to the applications of fMRI scanning and I even analyzed eye tracking data and its relation to memory. In the field, many researchers use scales to assess vividness, presence in memories and learning how each researcher conducts their own studies fascinated me. Lots of the research involved coding on Unity or Matlab data analysis for fMRI data or searching through literature, which showed me how efficient data analysis can speed up research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lastly, I learnt about brain MNI coordinates and Broadmann\u2019s areas. MNI coordinates are a standardized representation of the brain where a x, y, z value corresponds to a particular brain region and BroadMann\u2019s areas divide the cerebral cortex into distinct areas. I analyzed data from research papers and converted MNI coordinates to Broadmann\u2019s areas to help out in the lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I deeply appreciate how the ME Lab pushed me to learn by giving me the opportunity to read research papers and learn more about the field through complex literature. I even had the opportunity to meet other researchers and discuss a journal club paper with them to see what their perspective was on their research. Learning from others and what they liked about the paper and their critiques was interesting with all these new ideas being brought up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through my days at the lab, I learnt so much at the ME Lab and I would 100% recommend others to work or tour the lab. A huge shoutout to Dr. St. Jacques, Dr. Alice Bush, Selen K\u00fc\u00e7\u00fckta\u015f, Anna Romero, J\u00falia Feminella, Anna Cuff, and Aiden Lorincz-Bowman for giving me such a memorable and fun experience!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written by Ali Muhammad Usman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ME Lab hosted a high school student during Spring break via the UAlberta STEM Fellowship. Below is the student’s reflection about their experience in the lab: This spring break I had the incredible opportunity of working at the ME Lab and learning more about research into autobiographical …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/MElab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/MElab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/MElab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/MElab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/MElab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=890"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/MElab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":895,"href":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/MElab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890\/revisions\/895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/MElab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/MElab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/MElab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}